Cold
by LostInTheDreams
Summary: Sometimes people may seem cold. Sometimes people are cold. Most of the time, people are just people, weak and alone and like it when they have a friend by their side. It helps when that friend is warm to help keep away that chill. - No Pairing -


Bunch of fluff for my favorite character

* * *

 **Cold**

 _"Ain't the snow fallin' just a bit deeper these days_  
 _Aren't they building the stairs a bit steeper these days_  
 _And the town's really changin' in so many ways"_

 _\- Shel Silverstein_

I most certainly did not scream as the ice below my feet broke. I may have made some sound of distress but it was not a scream. Gasping, I pulled myself above the water. Most of my scarf still lay on the frozen lake and I tried to use it, swinging it to guild my spiritual powers.

The youmu before me hammered it's fits-like arms into the ice once more as cuts appeared all over it's body, my power tearing it apart. I watched, trying to use my fingers to grab onto the wet, translucent islands of frozen water that were all that were left of the once stable ground I had below my feet. Nothing moved and I let out a breath, watching it mist before me. There wasn't much I could do from the water if the youmu had survived that.

While not impossibly, I had to kick my feet to a more solid embankment and pull myself out of the chilly water. I felt like my body was on fire, even as I was freezing and soaking wet. Pulling open the shirt of my collar did nothing to help the feeling, though I knew that being wet and in the cold was a very bad combination.

I looked around, seeing if maybe my sister had been drawn to the commotion. Nothing disturbed the surrounding snowy landscape except for a breeze that had me drawing closer in on myself.

"Jeez," I muttered under my breath, getting to my feet and quickly falling back onto my knees. I stared down at them in horror, my eyes wide. I once again tried to get to my feet with the help of my arms, lifted myself a foot or so up, and fell to a knee, gasping for breath.

I held a hand to my chest as I tried to ease the pain there, the cold hurting me. It was making it hard to breath. Taking what was left of the dry portion of my scarf, I wrapped it around my neck, feeling the chill of where it had lay in the snow. Hopefully it would be better than nothing.

Reaching into my pocket I drew in the horrible realization that my phone was never going to work. I had just been in the water and it never would have survived. I tried anyway and couldn't get the damn thing to even turn on.

"Damn it," I cursed as I threw it to the ground, lifting my hand to the sky. At least I could get Mitsuki's attention, or any other Spirit Warrior that might be nearby. My hand shook as I kept it up, trying to spend what little power and concentration I needed to erect a barrier. I saw the blue power flicker into existence for a moment before disappearing, leaving me once more trying to breathe and holding a hand to my chest.

This was not good. I didn't do well in cold weather. I even had an extra jacket on to make sure I stayed warm. Taking that off now would be a smart idea but moving hurt too much and the world was started to go slanted on me.

I laughed to myself, barely seeing the white mist in front of me this time. It all blurred into the area around me. "I'm going to be taken down by water. That's pathetic. Mitsuki's going to kill me." That was enough to get me on my feet. I don't know how I did it but I took an unsteadying step forward once I did, trying to keep myself up. I had to get out of there.

Looking around, I couldn't tell what direction I had come from. It all looked the same. Town was just a five minute walk away. I should be able to hear it if I tried.

When I looked around again, I was laying on hard, uncomfortable ice. It stung my cheek that was resting against it, dulling a pain there I had only just come to notice. My eyes were closing and I did my best to keep them open but it was just no use.

" _I hate the cold_ ," I muttered quietly to myself, watching the world darken as I closed my eyes further. I let out a breath as the last of my consciousness faded away.

…

"Hiro'omi you idiot! Wake up!"

The world moved like there was an earthquake. I felt like a rag doll caught up in it, letting the movement take me where it wanted to, unable to fight for any stability.

"Please! Hiro'omi! Open your eyes!"

I was tired and the world was numb. I'd rather not open my eyes but something in the voice sounded desperate. I tried to blink, feeling a dried crust around my eyelids that wanted to keep them closed as well. The world was so bright on the other side that it made me wince and shut them again.

"Thank goodness," I heard, warm breath on my skin, something that felt like cotton material on the side of my face. "Come on, you have to stay with me. I can't carry you when you're all wet."

I wanted to tell them not to but I was quickly losing my fight with consciousness again. It was that idiot. I could recognize his voice anywhere. Akihito could just go bother someone else.

Then there was shaking again and I felt a sharp pain on my upper arms from being gripped too tightly. It made me wince and breathe out some more of the warm air to the cold outside. " _Ow_." Talking hurt and my throat felt as if it were dry.

"Here." I felt the world shift once more and there was a warmth at my side and touching the exposed skin of my wrist as my arm was lifted up and put around the other's neck as he held on to me. "Stand."

I tried to, I really did, but my legs didn't want to hold my weight and the ground felt slippery. " _Can't_ ," I spoke quietly, not even sure that he could hear me or make out the word.

"You are such a stubborn idiot!" The other yelled, too close to my ear. I winced against the sound, struggling once more to open my eyes. The world around me was white and I could see and hear Akkey panting from close enough to me that it was warming my ear. "Will you be okay if I go get help?"

Would I? I didn't know. It was cold out and all I wanted to do was go back to blissful sleep. I found myself taking my free arm and placing it under his arm, unable to do it from the back as I normally did. Akkey made some sort of noise as if I'd hurt him.

"You're so cold!" the other complained, squirming to get away from my touch. "Didn't your mother ever tell you not to play in the pond in the winter?"

Whose mother had to bother? I was put down as I thought this, feeling my jacket being taken off before my sweater and shirt followed. I didn't feel any colder than I had before they'd been on though I did notice I was missing my scarf. There was a warm hand on my back and I winced as part of it came in contact with the skin there that I could still feel. It felt like he was touching me with fire. " _Knock it off."_

"Sorry," I heard, the tone too apologetic. I didn't like showing off the scar and I knew what it did to Akkey so I usually skipped classes where I'd need to, such as when we had swimming lessons.

There was another jacket on me, this one burning me as much as his hand did. I cried out quietly, biting off the sound and huddling close to the material.

"Here, stay awake now."

I kept my eyes open, watching Akkey kneel in front of me.

"Put your arms around my neck and hold on. I should be able to carry you this way."

I looked at him, sporting nothing other than a t-shirt in January. He was crazy and I couldn't help a breathy laugh that looked like cigarette smoke as I leaned forward and put my arms around his neck. " _You're also so warm."_

I felt myself choke him as he stood, no leverage to help keep me up and me having to hold up or slide down his back. I let up once he was standing, hearing him cough though there was some laughter mixed in there. "You always say the weirdest things. Anyone would be warm under their arms and you were just soaking wet. I'm sure tap water to you would feel like a hot spring right now."

A hot spring sounded nice. I leaned forward, placing my chin on my arm as Akkey carried me back to town. Hopefully he was taking me back to my house and not his own. I could picture Mitsuki now, fawning over me, trying to get me warm and scolding me in a way that I knew meant she loved me deeply.

"Hey!" I felt a shift, knocked out of my personal thoughts. "Don't go thinking perverted thoughts while we're like this."

" _It's not perverted."_ I loved my sister, maybe more than I should but there was nothing perverted about it. She was the kind of girl that was cute whenever she wanted to be and cared about me even if she didn't say it. No girl could ever be as cute as her.

I could feel Akkey sigh, the warm breath not making it's way to me. I shifted, pulling one arm back and slipping the other, ungloved one, inside of his shirt.

He pranced around like crazy and I had to hold on tighter but he was so warm I didn't want to move my hand.

"You stupid idiot! Stop that! Pervert! It's cold!"

He couldn't let me go or I'd fall and I felt when he tried to, my body shifting and making my hand shift as well. I thought that worked out pretty well and found a comfortable position for my other hand under his shirt as well, which started off another triage of swearing and accusations of perversion. I would have argued back but it was comfortable this way, and I doubted Akkey would die of a cold if nothing else killed him.

"Ah, you're impossible!" Akkey stomped on ahead and I smiled, shifting now and then to keep my hands warm and hearing his breath hitch each time. He should be glad he was always so warm. I wish I had that too. My touch was always cold.

I closed my eyes, half falling asleep like that and unaware of the giggling and chatter that sprouted up around us as we returned to civilization.

…

I half woke as I was placed on a bed on the floor, turning in the slightly darkened room and seeing that I must be in some part of Ayaka-san's house. I'd been there before and I could see the youmu herself standing near the door and watching as Akkey folded the blanket on top of me.

" _Wait_ ," I spoke quietly, my voice feeling a bit better as I caught Akkey's wrist before he could leave. He felt like he was burning under my touch still.

"Ah!" he yelped, pulling away from my weak grip. "Do you _ever_ get warm?"

" _Mmm_ ," I answered. Truth be told, I wasn't sure I did. That's the way it had always been though. I didn't wear a scarf in the summer as a fashion statement, though most days in the hot weather I could go without it.

"So?" the blond asked, situating himself on his knees beside me. "What did you want?'

I didn't feel well at all. What I wanted was a warmer blanket, though I knew it wouldn't do much. My body did very little in the way of making it's own heat and I wanted Akkey to stay close. Saying that aloud though was embarrassing so I just closed my eyes. "Never mind."

"Don't say never mind like that when you don't mean it!"

I winced again, wishing he'd be a little more quiet. Then there was a hand on my forehead that, for once, felt cold. "Man, you're burning up."

I was? I felt like I was freezing. I suppose that was how the body worked. If it was cold, it tried to get warm. Too bad that it was a losing battle for me.

Akkey reached out and suddenly grabbed both my hands, holding them in his own. I watched him shiver as I stole more of his body heat. "I thought you would have gotten at least a little warm by now. You had my coat on the whole time and you still felt like ice against me."

"It's my power," I spoke dully, knowing he already was well aware of that. "It takes a lot of my body heat from me." I closed my eyes to try and fall asleep before I started coughing, feeling it scratch up my throat like knives. I had to half sit up, retrieving a hand from Akkey so I could move and breath it out easier. I let out a few deeper, faster breaths with my eyes still closed as I got my body back under control. "Don't worry, it's just a cold." The danger had passed now that I was inside.

I was being hugged all of a sudden at the odd angle I had been at lifting myself forward. The weight on my arm increased and I did my best to keep us both up. The warmth of Akkey's body washed over me and I let out a much more contented breath, feeling the other shiver.

"And you call me weird. I don't want to be hugging another guy. Now if you'd go get Mitsuki, maybe it would help. I imagine she could keep me warm." I mostly meant my words but it was also comfortable the way we were. I felt when Akihito shifted, no longer forcing us both towards the ground with his added weight.

"You know, you could always let go of me too."

I blinked, realizing I had put and arm under Akkey's shirt and around his back. It wasn't often I felt his skin so much. Usually his body gave off enough heat that all I had to do was touch him to warm my hands. The whole room felt hot still though, and Akkey even hotter, which meant I was freezing. I closed my eyes. "I'm just going to pretend you're Mitsuki then."

"Don't you dare! I don't want to know what weird kind of perversions you'd start up."

I laughed, letting out just a breath of air. I really didn't laugh much. In fact, looking back, none of us really laughed much. Maybe it was because of the situation we all knew we were in. We could be happy, and were happy, but there was always an undercurrent of fear and tension that we didn't care to acknowledge.

"Akkey, why are you still here anyway?"

"Hey! Don't go asking me stupid questions like that. You were nearly catatonic! I wasn't about to just leave you like that! Anyone would be worried about you."

"How did you know I was in trouble?" I hadn't successfully put up a barrier. The glimmer of one I had managed had vanished the second I brought it to life. There wasn't much hope that anyone had seen it, and less that they recognized it as a distress call.

"Your spells. I had just seen Mitsuki in the club room. You never care to show up. I knew it wasn't her so that left you and your sister. Both of you are powerful Spirit Warriors and, when I saw the glimmer of a barrier show up, it looked like something interrupted it's casting. I figured I had better check it out."

"You always run headfirst into danger without thinking things through, even when you know the consequences, don't you?" I had my forehead resting on his shoulder. I was comfortable and closed my eyes, feeling tired and content now. That didn't mean I didn't still want to call my sister and watch her worry over me, but I liked her just as much when she wasn't scared and worried, so either way it panned out I was good with.

"I guess not."

I let the silence after carry for a bit but the guilt in those words bothered me. It wasn't always a _bad_ thing, acting the way he did, but he should think about himself more often too. "Idiot."

That got a laugh out of him though I wasn't sure if he had really thrown off my comment. I called him an idiot enough times that I was sure he'd started to shrug it off. "You're repeating yourself now. Hey, are you really okay? You're not getting that much warmer."

"My body is weak right now. I need to rest." Odds were with the dip in the water I'd given myself more than a fever, though I'd hope for the best before I was sure. "Though you're not the younger sister type at all and a guy on top of that, I am older and I am tired. Do you mind sharing the bed with me?"

"What the hell! Of course I mind sharing the bed! What kind of guy do you think I am?! Do you think just because I helped you that you can just take advantage of me like that?! I'm not some hussy who'll just lay down for someone because I feel bad for them!"

Akkey tore himself away from me and I didn't mind all that much. I laid back down where I had been, let out a breath, and pulled the covers up more. I wouldn't ask again and was surprised I had even done it a first time. I did have some level of pride. "Let me sleep then."

I was tired .How I stayed awake to have such a long conversation as it was, I wasn't sure.

I didn't sleep very long though. I noticed quickly when the blankets became warmer and there was shifting next to me. I opened my eyes and watched Akkey situate himself next to me, making sure his skin was touching the side of my leg and he was somewhat clinging onto my arm. Once he was settled he looked up at me with those innocent brown eyes that hide a personality that was anything but. "I guess I could rest for a while too."

I wouldn't thank him. That wasn't how I did things. I closed my eyes again, appreciating the gesture, and still silently wishing it had been my sister here instead again. I could picture her curled up beside me, pressing her body into mine and tracing her warm fingers over my skin.

"Hey!"

I opened my eyes and blinked a few times, watching Akkey sigh.

"Maybe this was a bad idea. Tell me when you're warm and I'm out of here."

"Sorry," I apologized on reflex. I closed my eyes and settled back down again myself. "It's hard having someone besides my sister help me. I'm not used to it, even when it's you. I don't like people seeing me like this." I turned my head to the side so he wasn't just staring at me while I couldn't stare back. Besides a few times while we were both skipping class on the roof, I had never laid this close to him.

"Got it. I'm not here then. Just a cat or something."

That made me snort out a laugh, picturing Akkey as a great big blond kitty cat. I heard him laugh too. It was nice, even if it was short lived.

I fell asleep like that. I don't know if he said anything but the room was quiet for long enough for my mind to draw me under. It was warm in my dreams though they were filled with confusion. I knew for certain that night that I dreamt in color, as it seemed to be all over the place. There were creatures there, dancing in and out of the lights, shadowed themselves and somehow impossible to make out even with the contrast. I floated in this space for a while, curious and afraid of what could be in those lights around me, but I never came close enough to touch them.

A light from outside woke me. I let my eyes adjust slowly before turning them to what I could see of Akkey. He had somehow fallen asleep on half of me. I could feel his head on my arm and chest as one of his arms was wrapped around my body. He was snoring slightly and it made me smile.

I stayed that way for a while, checking myself over without moving. I felt much better than I had before. I wasn't nearly as tired and the room once more felt room temperature. Akkey was like a nice heating blanket added on top of that and I didn't care to move him right away, so I let him sleep.

I started picturing him as a cat again, as my mind had nothing better to do. He wasn't all that different. He was a strange person, and moody, and wanted things his own way. I couldn't say I was much different, but there was something about the way he moved and the way he smiled that reminded me more of a house pet. I couldn't compare myself without biased as I could him, but I saw myself as more of something like a wolf pack leader. I didn't mind being alone and I protected my own. I supposed he wasn't much different. After all, this was the same idiot that saved my life and then almost killed me in the same half hour after meeting me.

Sleep may have taken me again though it was light. I still managed to dream somehow, and my thoughts translated over. In them I was some creature, sure of nothing other than the fact I had fur. I was small, much smaller than the creature I found at my side that I somehow attributed to Akkey. I felt my sister there, knew the kitten behind me to be her, even if she shared nothing but her eye color. The fur reminded me more of her youmu's color than our hair.

Then I was awake and Akkey was moving. I shifted a bit myself now that I was free of him, finding myself a bit sore from sleeping in the same position on the floor all night.

"Did I wake you?"

"No." He may have but I hadn't been asleep that long and I had already woke. "You sleep like the dead. How you get up in the morning for school I'll never know."

"I wake up, same as you. I just took a lot longer to fall asleep than you did." Akkey rubbed his eyes before looking around and looking back down at me. I watched him, as I had nothing better to do, and then heard my stomach tell me that there were other things I should be attending to. I colored and put a hand onto my stomach, not catching the smirk I was sure was being shot my way. "If you're feeling better maybe we should both be getting back home."

I nodded, looking down at myself. I narrowed my eyes back up at him. "My clothes?"

"Ah, right." Akkey got up. "I'll go get them. Ayaka-san said she'd be drying them."

I'd stay under the covers for a while then. Even youmu, I wasn't used to walking around without a shirt in front of girls. Akkey's coat should hide it, but it would look silly wearing it inside the house.

It didn't take long for him to come back and me to change, making sure I was facing him while I did. I felt much better with my shirt back on and much more so as I wrapped my scarf back around my neck. My pants I would deal with when I got home and I was happy he hadn't taken them off in some chivalrous way of helping me.

I still shivered a little as I stood, my body now fighting on it's own to keep me warm. That was a good thing. The swaying once I was on my feet was not and Akkey reached out and held my arm.

"Are you going to be okay?"

I pulled it back and turned away to sneeze, rubbing my nose and shrugging. "I'll be fine. I'm sure I haven't forgotten how to walk. Now if you have, I could give you a few pointers. Start with the right foot and-"

"Give it a rest already, will you?" Akkey huffed and strode off ahead of me. I smiled and followed him, sticking my hands in my pockets. The jacket would warm up soon enough. It wasn't as if I didn't give off body heat.

It was morning outside when I noticed where the sun had gone. I'd slept through a good portion of the day before as well as the night. I had to wonder if Mitsuki was worried about me. She hadn't shown up at Ayaka's and she would have called the person next to me to figure out what was going on. "What did you tell my sister?"

Akkey looked back at me, bending down and getting his shoes on. I winced when I looked at my own, knowing that they'd probably been dried out but the thought of stepping into them if they were still damp wasn't pleasant.

"I told her you were busy with something and you wouldn't be home until some time today. I didn't think she'd believe me if I lied and said you were staying over at my place. I wasn't sure if you really wanted me to tell her that you fell into a lake."

I still wasn't sure on that myself so I supposed I couldn't be angry at him for lying. Akkey hated not telling the truth, hated hiding anything, so I'd likely end up telling her myself, now that she wouldn't be so afraid. "It's fine. I'll tell her the truth when we get back." I bent down anyway and put my shoes on, finding them warmer and drier than I'd been expecting.

I would have liked to retreat back into the house when the door was open and the wind chill bit at me before I was even out the door. I pulled up the scarf, trying to hide more of my face. Akkey looked back at me, probably to see if something stupid happened, like the wind blew me over. "Get going or are you going to stand there all day?"

"Why are you being such a jerk?! You were just really sick and I'm watching you!"

"I'm better now and I don't need you watching me. I may not have your powers but I'm still a Spirit Warrior. I'm no push over." I smirked. "Now get going or I shove you out the door and prove it."

Akkey sighed and relented, letting me out of the house. I made sure to catch up to him so that I was walking next to him instead of behind, watching him as much as he was watching me. The cold making me pull the scarf up more was the only reason I didn't keep eye contact.

We could have at least ate at Ayaka-san's before we left. I was hungry and the cold was the only thing keeping me awake. I still had to blink my eyes more than normal to focus better and I had to wonder why I was so tired. I was sure I'd gotten over the hypothermia already.

The glass window beside me shattered and I put my hands up, keeping the glass out of my face. I kept my eyes open, knowing better than to close them.

Something that may have resembled a lizard but shared more traits with a bear must have shattered the window of the store we were passing. I drew off my scarf, immediately setting up a barrier around the area. The landscape glowed blue for a moment as I focused, holding my scarf in both hands and watching Akkey take a step back.

That was good. I needed him out of the way and it was only one youmu.

The youmu growled and it took just a small bit of intent and the help of my scarf to shred the thing to pieces in a matter of seconds. The stone formed as the youmu vanished and I walked forward, picking it up. I didn't really need the money and we were paying for Akkey's place so I handed it over to him. "Here. You can do what you want with it. That was a pretty week youmu though. You won't get much."

"Thanks, but um…"

I looked down at where Akkey was, most of my scarf now laying in the snow. I picked it up, shaking off what I could, but it had already grown damp and cold. I sigh. "Great." I handed it over to Akkey. "Here. Stick it under your shirt."

"What?!" He yelped and backed away from me. "You just had that in the snow!"

"Yes, and I'm cold and it's cold out here. You have more than enough heat to spare unless you rather have me under your shirt."

Akkey snatched the scarf away from me and did as I said, wincing at the cold. "You know, you can be pretty heartless. I don't like the cold that much either."

I didn't say anything back, walking ahead of him. There was no point in staying out in the cold and going inside anywhere just for the scarf to warm up wasn't worth the time. I didn't mind the cold air that much as it stung my throat, though I did miss the protection from it I no longer had.

I was coughing in just a few minutes and I had to stop when it interfered with me walking straight. I felt Akkey's hand on my back, even through my coat, as the fits stopped. I breathed in and out a few times, but it only burned further.

"Maybe you should have stayed as Ayaka's. You're not better."

I wiped my nose with my hand, my eyes half closed as I looked ahead. I'd rather be at my own house and it wasn't all that far though it sure felt like it was taking us a long time to get there. "It's a cold. I'll have it for a few days so I couldn't-" I started coughing again, closing an eye as it became painful and walking again. Standing here wasn't going to get me better.

The world started to go white around the edges. I wasn't sure if it was because everything was covered in snow or if it was my vision. I always though your vision went black when you were passing out, so I'd blame it on the weather.

I didn't think I'd walked far when I was stopped, warm arms wrapped around me and dulling my senses further. I could never mistake my sister's dark hair, so much longer than my own and yet the same. ' _Great_ ', I thought to myself, ' _now I'm hallucinating._ '

"Oni-san," she spoke in a chiding voice as she looked up at me with her ruby eyes, so like the real thing. "Where have you been that's so important! You look horrible." I couldn't tell if she was really worried, since her expression most of the time was neutral, but she sounded it, just a bit. I smiled at her.

"What an active imagination I have. And you feel like the real thing too." I held her back, pulling her close to me and taking in her scent. Yes, it felt so very real. "Call me your big brother that again."

The slap I received as she pulled herself away from me stung more than the cold. "Hentai. And here I was worried about you. Akihito-kun, make sure he gets home." She spun on her heals and turned around, her pace faster than it normally was.

"Wait!" I hadn't held my sister in too long. She stopped letting me a few years ago. "Come back! I didn't mean it! No hallucination could be as beautiful as you! Don't leave your big brother!"

I forgot about Akkey but he didn't forget about me. I was choked by my scarf a few seconds later and pulled back. It was swung around my neck before I was pushed forward. I took back off, once more having him slip my mind as I chased my sister. He may have followed us home and he may have not. All I cared about was my sister and following her footsteps as I coughed. Watching her stop and wait for me when I would stop was more than endearing enough to give me strength to make it back home.

The soup and fawning that I received after didn't happen, but I caught her looking in on me time and time again. Each time it made me smile and made me all the more sure that I would get better. It was a few days before I could go back to school and stand the cold temperatures, longer still that my sister wouldn't skip the literary club to walk near me back home. I stayed in the clubroom a few days that week, so she could as well, knowing I should get involved as a member anyway, though I simply spent my time watching my little sister.

Sometimes it was worth the cold.


End file.
